LEGO Pinball Machine Gets You From the Shire to Mordor

Master builder Jonas’ latest creation is the epitome of geekiness, as it brings together Lord of the Rings and LEGO, in the form of a fully functional pinball machine.

Jonas, who isn’t exactly at his first LEGO build, has put a lot of thought into creating this pinball machine. Over the course of 12 hours, he used more than 2,000 LEGO pieces to put together this Lord of the Rings-themed contraption that not only looks great, but it can also help you pass the time.

“Odd-mashups are way more interesting than mashups you would expect. But the real reason for the mix with Lord of the Rings was simply that I hadn’t built something from my favorite movies for ages,” explained Jonas in an interview with Jennifer from The Brothers Brick, when asked why did he choose Lord of the Rings as this pinball machine’s theme. “Furthermore I planned the pinball machine in a pretty large scale, so I had to watch out to have the right amount of bricks in the right colors available. After collecting bricks for Middle Earth creations over the last few years, choosing to use that color palate would be a safe bet.”

Included in this arcade masterpiece are some of the most iconic locations from Middle Earth: Hobbiton (the ball shooter lane), Helms Deep, Ortanc, Weathertop (one of the bumpers), Fangorn, Minas Tirith, and even the Black Gates of Mordor that have taken the role of flippers.

In fact, Jonas pointed out that getting the flippers right didn’t actually present a challenge to him, but the pin turned out to be problematic. The play features, while difficult to implement, are now Jonas’ favorite part of the final creation:

“I mostly tend to build creations that focus highly on the aesthetics, colors and details. To push me out of that comfort zone I decided to build something that had to have real working features. A pinball machine seemed to be something that could be fun to build and fun to play with later.”

Since he has tackled various themes in his builds, ranging from Star Wars and Star Trek to District 9 and Deadpool, I must admit that I would like to see more such geeky pinball machines. The LoTR LEGO arcade was created specifically for the Iron Builder contest on Flickr, but I don’t think that such a talented builder needs incentives like this one all the time to produce remarkable contraptions.

It’s really amazing what some people can do in such a short amount of time with so many LEGO pieces. The project must have been thought out beforehand, but it’s still very impressive that Jonas has managed to put together a complex arcade machine in just 12 hours. This should really be seen as a proof of determination, as I think that Jonas’ pinball machine exemplifies more than just his creativity.